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Websleuths News

Join Websleuths Radio for the final discussion of THE KILLING SEASON
with Josh Zemam, Rachel Mills and special guests including Bob Kolker author of Lost Girls

MN - Carla Beth Anderson, 23, Wadena, 13 Nov 1987

Age at Time of Disappearance: 23 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'11"; 80 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; brown eyes.
Clothing: A brown and orange Hardee’s jacket; pink tennis shoes.
Medical: Mildly mentally challenged

Circumstances of Disappearance

At the time of her disappearance Carla, had just leant that she would be named the employee of the month at her job at Hardee’s. That night she went out to eat with her mother, and stepfather to celebrate. They ate at Taco John’s, and stopped on the way back to Carla’s apartment to pick up a couple of movies she planned to watch that night.

Her parents dropped Carla off that Friday night, and made plans to have Carla come to the cabin the family was building on Sunday to help stain some wood. In return, her mother was going to do Carla’s hair so it would look nice Monday morning for her employee of the month photo. The parents dropped Carla off around 7:30 or 8 p.m. that night, at her apartment at Greenwood Apartments in Wadena, and never saw her again.

Carla had a cup of pop she took with her from Taco John’s, she drank that and she watched one movie. The video cassette was still in the VCR. The pop was consumed.

Nothing was disturbed in her apartment, and only her keys were missing. Her purse was still there. Carla’s brown and orange Hardee’s jacket was also missing from the apartment. Carla’s door was locked from the outside.

A fire burned on the edge of town that night, one that would have been visible from her apartment on the northwest side of the building. One theory is Carla may have grabbed her jacket and keys and walked down to observe the fire up close. From there, someone could have grabbed her.

Another incident that night involved the theft of a car from the neighborhood near where Carla lived. A brown Plymouth Horizon was stolen a couple of blocks from Greenwood Apartments. It was never located.

The police followed every tip. A search committee went out looking to find Carla. A WCCO helicopter was used to search from the air. It was deer hunting weekend when Carla disappeared, and hunters were alerted to be on the lookout for Carla.

Carla's parents think someone Carla was acquainted with came to the apartment and convinced her to leave with him (or them.) The parents remembered two boys who would harass Carla, visiting her apartment and knocking on her windows from the outside.

Her parents did not know Carla was missing until. Monday, 3 days later, when she failed to show up for work. The whole family took polygraph tests, which they passed. The boyfriend was also questioned and cleared.
Foul play is suspected.

This case has so little to go on. I think the events that happened that night had something to do with it. It is also strange Carla went to see the police a few days before this about the people who were bothering her. Were they threatening her? I'm curious about the timeline of the events, and how the swamp fire started vs. when her parents dropped her off at home. They never posted much about it. I know this is a longshot, but was Carla's body in the swamp when it caught on fire? Swamps do not just catch fire, someone had to set it on fire. Possibly the person who stole the car used it to leave town afterwards.

property belongs to Dan Hansen who claims to have gone to school with Carla.
"Hansen says his whole family sympathized with Anderson's family. "I went to school with Carla Anderson, I knew who she was, you know, and I felt sorry for them." See article above.

property belongs to Dan Hansen who claims to have gone to school with Carla.
"Hansen says his whole family sympathized with Anderson's family. "I went to school with Carla Anderson, I knew who she was, you know, and I felt sorry for them." See article above.

It seems this may be unrelated to this case. "The release from Investigator Amy Ament states, “Contrary to erroneous media reports, the human remains being sought do not involve Jacob Wetterling or Carla Anderson." This quote is from the Brainerd Dispatch.

But I should have added to my last post that Dan Hansen is a real charmer. See this article from 2007 listing his record (assault, sex crimes, etc etc, although I guess that only in Minnesota could the sheet include 'running over a bobcat').

Post #8 from amber1 reads "I read that a man claimed his friend picked these girls up hitch hiking, and strangled them in his apartment, and buried them in farmland in Wadena County, MN by Leaf River. It was searched and nothing was found". So the search may have been for these girls. The following link seems to refer to an earlier search in the area for these girls (in 2001/2?) but the more recent search could have been a belated follow up after more information. As I understand it the Hansen property is by Leaf River.